Just four days after The Folded Leaf announced that it would need to vacate its home on Kasson Street in the spring, bookstore owner, Rachel Zemanek, received the unexpected news Tuesday morning that the landlords had decided to renew the shop’s lease for another year following an outpouring of community support.
“I honestly stayed out of it all,” said Zemanek. “I took a step back and said, this space is for the community, so the community will make the decision on whether or not we stay.”
And decide they did. Throughout the weekend, social media feeds were filled with messages urging the landlords to reconsider, with many residents describing the shop as a rare and necessary gathering space. Among the supporters was Katie Dunn, a Leelanau County resident who expressed her gratitude for the situation being resolved in the bookstore’s favor.
“Rachel has created such an extraordinary space,” Dunn said. “It has really stood as a beacon of hope, safety, and brightness, not just for Cedar, but for the whole county.” Dunn added that the reaction showed how deeply the community values the environment Zemanek has built.
“This was an example of the community rightfully rallying behind a business that means so much to so many,” she said.
Zemanek said that the initial notice on Friday stated that the landlords believed the bookstore had “outgrown the space” and that the building didn’t feel like “a good fit for its forever home.” While she began mentally prepping for a move, her neighbors began a mobilization to save the storefront.
“It has simultaneously been the hardest, scariest, most heartbreaking four days of my life,” Zemanek said. “But they’ve equally been the most heartwarming, humbling, and meaningful. To see the community rally like that around not just a business. But around a value and an idea.”
She believes the store’s resonance, in part, has come from its role in rebuilding connection in a time of division.
“The political landscape of the last ten years has been so difficult, with so much separation. To revitalize meaningful connection in my hometown has turned a decade of turmoil into something really beautiful,” said Zemenek. “When I started this, I never thought The Folded Leaf would become what it has become,” she said. “It is so much more than I could have ever hoped for, in every way I didn’t know I needed.”
Zemanek said she is deeply appreciative that her landlords listened to the community’s response. “They opened the door for me to start this bookstore and the movement. I will always be really grateful for that,” she said.
The details of the new lease have not yet been finalized, and Zemanek acknowledged she doesn’t yet know whether any changes could affect the store’s operations. Even so, she is moving forward with her existing upcoming plans such as partnering with Interlochen Arts Academy to provide books for author events, working with The Girl Scouts to develop a badge centered on reading, hosting student performances, and preparing for a January fundraiser benefiting the Traverse Bay Children’s Advocacy Center. Though the lease renewal buys time, Zemanek knows the search for a long term home is still ahead.
Her hope is that the community might one day help purchase a building, ideally the one she is currently in, for a permanent shared space. “I would love it if we could find a building in Cedar to purchase as a community owned building,” she said. “It could be a beautiful example of what we can all do together.” For now the bookstore will stay exactly where it is. “Cedar has always been the community that cares,” Zemanek said. “The Folded Leaf just gave it a place to show that.”
